Best CD Account of 2018: Marcus by Goldman Sachs

For conservative investors, a certificate of deposit is, in many ways, the best of both worlds. CDs are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000, so when you invest in a CD you can sleep at night knowing your investment is safe. CDs also tend to pay higher interest rates than an interest-bearing checking or savings account, so you likely aren’t giving up any interest by investing in these federally insured products.

GOBankingRates compared CD accounts to find the best options, evaluating these factors for each bank:

Five-year CD APY

12-month CD APY

Minimum deposit to open

The results are in, and Marcus by Goldman Sachs is at the top of the heap in the GOBankingRates’ annual Best Banks of 2018 ranking. Here’s a look at CD offerings of one of the best banks in America.

What Makes Marcus by Goldman Sachs the Best CD Account of 2018

Marcus by Goldman Sachs is one of the best banks in America because when compared with other top banks, including online banks, Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers the best interest rates. For both the one-year and five-year periods, Marcus by Goldman Sachs has the best CD accounts because it offers the highest interest rates of any bank CD, including any high-yield CD. If you’re looking for a high CD rate, Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers the best bank rates.

Five-Year CD Rates

The bottom line when it comes to the Marcus by Goldman Sachs five-year CD is that it offers what every investor wants: high yields and no fees. Marcus by Goldman Sachs’ five-year CD rate of 2.40% APY, at the time the ranking was conducted, is higher than any bank in the GOBankingRates’ Best Banks of 2018 ranking, and has since increased and was 2.50% APY on Jan. 4, 2018. Sallie Mae Bank is a close competitor, at 2.35% APY, and a few other banks offer a 2.30% APY, but most other banks can’t compare — well-known, global bank Citibank, for example, pays 0.50% APY. Marcus by Goldman Sachs also requires just $500 to open a CD account.

12-Month CD Rates

Marcus by Goldman Sachs dominates in the 12-month CD category as well, offering the highest yield available at a 1.65% APY. Most other banks pay much lower interest, including the biggest bank in America, JPMorgan Chase, which pays between 0.02% APY and 0.05% APY on its 12-month CDs, depending on the size of your deposit.

CD Account Features and Benefits

All of the best banks in America offer convenient features such as online banking, and Marcus by Goldman Sachs is no different. To climb to the level of one of the best banks to bank with, Marcus by Goldman Sachs couples convenience and flexibility with the best bank interest rates. For example, Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers a 10-day CD rate guarantee, which promises you the best APY it offers within 10 days of opening your account, even if that rate is higher than it was at the time of your initial purchase. The bank also gives you the option of either reinvesting your interest payments or having them paid out directly to you.

Savings Account

If you worry about locking away your money for a number of years, Marcus by Goldman Sachs also offers a highly competitive online savings account that you can access at any time, up to six withdrawals per statement cycle. This account requires no minimum account balance and offered a 1.20% APY, at the time the ranking was conducted, but has since increased and was 1.40% APY on Jan. 4, 2018, far above accounts such as the Bank of America Rewards Savings account, which pays as little as 0.03% APY. The Marcus by Goldman Sachs account also provides 24/7 automated phone access for account balances and the ability to transfer funds between linked bank accounts, including external ones.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs CD Account: High Interest With a Required Minimum Deposit

As the top CD account in the Best Banks 2018 ranking, Marcus by Goldman Sachs excels in every field. The only category in which competitors best Marcus by Goldman Sachs is in the minimum investment category. Although $500 is still a low threshold, there are some banks — including Barclays Bank Delaware, Ally Bank, Capital One, and American Express Bank — that have a minimum deposit requirement of $0.

According to the GOBankingRates’ Best Banks of 2018 ranking, Marcus by Goldman Sachs can’t be beaten when it comes to CD rates for either 12 months or five years. A low minimum investment of $500 makes it easy for nearly any investor to open an account. The no-fee structure and online account management features round out the package for this top bank.

Methodology:To compile its list of the top 110 banks, GOBankingRates surveyed the FDIC’s list of banks sorted by asset size, excluding non-active institutions, investment banks and any institutions that require customers to use investment services to access commercial bank accounts. This list of 110 banks includes 82 brick-and-mortar banks and 28 online-only banks according to the GOBankingRates database. For brick-and-mortar financial institutions, the asset threshold was a minimum of $10 billion. No asset threshold was consulted for online-only banks.

Criteria for ranking: To determine its Best CD Accounts category ranking, GOBankingRates evaluated each institution’s 12-month certificate of deposit product and five-year CD product. If the bank did not offer a 12-month or five-year CD, then the next-closest CD term length was selected for evaluation. GOBankingRates scored the CD accounts from most to least favorable on the following factors: (1) minimum deposit to open a CD, (2) annual percentage yield for a 12-month CD and (3) APY for a five-year CD. APY for a 12-month CD and APY for a five-year CD were weighted more heavily than other ranking factors, and accounts were then ranked by overall score.

Data for the Best Banks of 2018 was compiled from and verified against the individual institutions’ websites between Sept. 12 and Sept. 21, 2017.Rates, terms and conditions are subject to change at the discretion of the individual financial institutions.APY was based on the minimum deposit required to open the account. Some interest rates might be short-term or promotional offers only, and it is possible additional terms and conditions must be met in order to obtain the interest rates listed. Rates and availability might vary by region. Please verify terms and conditions before opening an account.

GOBankingRatesis a personal finance and consumer interest rate website owned byConsumerTrack, Inc.,an online marketing company serving top-tier banks, credit unions, and other financial services organizations. Some banks mentioned in the Best Banks of 2018 are clients of ConsumerTrack, Inc., which serves more than 100 national, local and online financial institutions. Rankings are completely objective, and no institution, client or otherwise, paid for inclusion or specific placement.

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